EFFECTIVENESS OF TEACHER PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL AND DEVELOPMENT ON TEACHER PROFESSIONALISM IN PUBLIC JUNIOR SCHOOLS IN TANA DELTA SUB COUNTY, KENYA.

Abstract

This research examined the effectiveness of the Teacher Performance Appraisal and Development tool on teachers' professionalism in public Junior Schools in Tana Delta Sub-County, Tana River County, Kenya. It explored how self-appraisal, lesson observation, Continuous Professional Development linked to identified gaps, feedback, and performance target-setting affect teacher professionalism. The study was anchored on Locke and Latham's Goal Setting Theory. A convergent mixed-methods design was used, combining descriptive survey and phenomenological approaches which are quantitative and qualitative respectively. The target population comprised of 265 teachers and 45 Institutional administrators across 45 public Junior schools, with 14 schools (30%) and 40 teachers (15%) which was selected using stratified random and purposive sampling techniques. Collection of data was done through teacher questionnaire, interview guide for Heads of Institution and the Sub-County Director, and a document analysis guide. Instrument validity was ensured through supervisor review and piloting, with reliability set at a Cronbach's Alpha threshold of 0.70. Qualitative trustworthiness was established via credibility, dependability, confirmability, and transferability. Quantitative data was analyzed using SPSS v27, employing frequency distributions, t-tests, ANOVA, and regression analysis at a 0.05 significance level; qualitative data was analyzed thematically. The study aimed to guide employers in strengthening teacher performance appraisal systems. Cronbach's Alpha analysis confirmed acceptable internal consistency for the questionnaire, meeting the pre-set reliability threshold of 0.925. Results obtained after hypothesis testing indicated all five TPAD components had a statistically significant, positive effect on teacher professionalism (p < .05), with varying strength of this effect considered: Continuous Professional Development linked to identified gaps recorded the strongest effect (R² = .777), followed by performance target setting (R² = .721), feedback (R² = .663), and lesson observation (R² = .595), while self-appraisal recorded the weakest, though still significant, effect (R² = .396). Qualitative data from Institutional Administrators and the Sub-County Director corroborated these results, identifying inadequate ICT infrastructure and concerns over inflated self-appraisal scores as key challenges undermining TPAD's effectiveness. The findings of the study indicate that TPAD implementation meaningfully strengthens teacher professionalism in public Junior Schools in Tana Delta Sub-County, with CPD linked to identified gaps and performance target setting emerging as the most influential components, while self-appraisal and lesson observation showed greater inconsistency across schools. It recommended that Institutional administrators should actively support and facilitate TPAD implementation by adjusting timetables to give room for target setting, self appraisal and appraiser-appraisee meeting, installation of WIFI to ensure the appraisal process is smoothly conducted and following up with peer-sharing sessions after lesson observations. Schools should institutionalize mentorship programs that pair experienced teachers with novice teachers to support professional growth.